


Peace and War On The Planet Earth

by Ispotate



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gay Space Rocks, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Multi, Other, Shattering - Freeform, War, pre-diamond shattering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 00:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ispotate/pseuds/Ispotate
Summary: To deal with the growing rebellion, Yellow Diamond sends one of the generals to deal with the Rose Quartz. Labradorite is sent out on behalf of the general, and makes some rather shocking discoveries.





	Peace and War On The Planet Earth

**Author's Note:**

> This was a project for my club, a couple years ago, and so i decided to post it. It was written with two of my friends. I'm really proud of this, so I hope you enjoy.

The gentle hum of the various machinery aboard the starship base did little to calm a running figure’s nerves. This was a labradorite, who was an exceedingly small gem. A large blue cone shaped hat made most of Labradorite’s height, including large antlers on her head, and her large oval shaped gem staring at the world, and the rest of her body was covered in a stiff-looking dark blue and dark gray striped cloak that reached her ankles. Her feet were in dark blue standard looking tights, with darker blue toe and feet covers.  
She ran down several corridors, cursing silently in an ancient language, the crystalline floors and walls echoing her noises immensely. Finally, she skidded into a room filled wall to wall with soldiers. The gem who was previously speaking fell silent, glaring at the new arrival. The smaller gem quickly saluted, and the general gem growled.  
“What is your petty excuse this time, Labradorite Facet-5F6L?”  
The small gem shuddered and stuttered out a response.   
“I-I got st-stuck in an e-e-elevator, M-m-Morganite…”  
The other gems in the room, mostly amethysts and jaspers with a couple of other quartz soldiers, laughed at Labradorites perceivedly lame excuse. Morganite scowled, yet her pink face remained ever flawless. Sweeping her long, straight pink hair aside, she ignored Labradorite, instead addressing the large battalion.   
“You all know why we are here.” Morganite said in her smooth, soft voice that still sent cold shivers down Labradorite’s spine. “We are here to provide reinforcements to the troops below in dealing with a mutinous rebel group. You all have your orders. Go.”   
Everyone exited in an orderly fashion, Labradorite attempting to blend in with the other Labradorites she had seen earlier, stopping cold when she heard Morganite's cold, clear voice.  
“Not you, Facet-5F6L.”   
Flinching, she turned to face the superior gem. Morganite was probably taller than any other gem she faced. Her long, straight pink hair reached her thighs, her darker pink armor made to intimidate. Not to mention how Morganite would put shards of shattered gems into her armour.  
“You know this is the sixth time you have been late, Labradorite.” The gem in question nodded shakily. “We should shatter you.” Morganite said, emotionless. “We can’t have failures in our conquests.”   
Labradorite paled, though no one could see it beneath her large red cone-like cap.   
“I-i can m-make it up t-to you, L-lady Morg-g-ganite.”   
The general nodded. “You will.” Labradorite sighed with relief, but there was a catch. “If you do not bring me back the leaders’ gems of the rebellion unshattered, we will torture you until you wish for your shattering.”  
Stuttering, Labradorite quickly thanked the general before scurrying out of the room, and racing to the main cargo bay. She could only hope that her group would encounter some of the rebels.  
\-----------------------------------------  
The plants of the still unfamiliar planet surrounded Spessartite as she directed her squad through the dense forest, following the small path made by their Keshi Pearl scout.  
They had been walking for hours on their way to attempt an ambush on some homeworld troops near a major rebel trade route, and they finally had some time to rest and go over their information and plan their attack. Rose Quartz had gotten information from a new recruit that there was going to be a large group with them on their way to the main homeworld camp to provide reinforcements to the fight against them.  
Spessartite’s job was to stop them from getting there at all costs. If she and her squad failed, the consequences could be dire for the rest of the rebellion, and the beauty of Earth could be lost.  
She was startled out of the thoughts by a hushed call for help.  
“Spess? Spess, can you hear me? Chalcedony? Ametrine? Oh geez… I don’t want the enemy to hear me,” She heard the small voice call, which she quickly identified as Keshi.  
“Keshi?” Spessartite called, warily glancing in the direction she thought the voice was coming from, “What’s wrong?”  
“Okay, First: I’m to your left, not your right (we really need to test your hearing); Second: I found them; Third: I’m stuck on a tree,” Keshi said, hints of annoyance and humor in her voice, “I would really appreciate it if one of you would freaking help me instead of standing around looking confused. I’m in between the bushes surrounding the area we stopped in and the canyon.”  
“Alright, give me a minute to find you.” Spessartite said, heading to the directed location, “Where did you find them?”  
“Well.. that’s part of why I’m trying to be quiet right now, they’re in the canyon below us, and if you don’t hurry I think I’ll be in view of them soon.” She said nervously.  
“Oh shoot, okay.” Spessartite said. She pushed through the described bushes while motioning for the others to follow, pointing out spots to step that would make the least noise and using herself to hold back branches that could have smacked one of them in the face, looking for her pale friend.  
She had to suppress a laugh when she came across the small pearl, her flowy half-skirt caught on a low branch in a tree in a way that had her almost hanging. Her twig-like legs hung dejectedly and she clung to the tree with one hand to keep from falling over, seemingly unable to fix it herself without losing her balance. Her normally neat hair was out of its default position of flowing up and over the left side of her head, instead falling and looking more like something typical to a pearl. She looked nervous, but Spessartite was pretty sure she was the only one who had time to notice before it was gone.  
“Hey there,” she said, a sheepish grin overtaking her face to mask the look that was there previously. Spessartite rolled her eyes and carefully lifted Keshi off of the branch and freeing her.  
“How did that even happen?” Chalcedony asked, “There isn’t even anything around that you could have jumped off of to get stuck like that this time.”  
“Idontwannatalkaboutit,” Keshi said quietly while Spessartite set her down, “Let’s just get to a place where we are a bit safer before one of us fal- goddamnit Ametrine- stop that it’s not funny!”  
\----------------------------------------  
Labradorite has never been, or ever will be the bravest of gems. It is really just not in her nature, so when she hears a group of gems- no, not just gems, REBEL gems, on top of the cliffs she would be trying to back away very slowly.  
Quickly finding a boulder to hide behind, Labradorite goes into a mini-panic attack.  
“Oh gosh, oh golly those are gems, they are not friendly oh dear golly gosh oh holy diamonds save me…” after an episode of panic, Labradorite slowed down her breathing, because as Morganite said many times before, ‘Rebels do not spare, they will kill you pathetic morsels.’  
She heard the gems playing around on the cliff, and faltered in her thinking. Why would they be playing? Messing around? The distinct thrumming of Labradorite’s troops brought back to her situation. Here she has a small scout troop against an unknown amount of would be ambusher assailants.   
“Ok, ok. Two options… I could run back to the troop, warn them, engage in battle in which I would likely die… or, warn the ambushers of my troop, and pray to diamonds that they will spare me long enough to run away. Forget this whole war, start a bakery, just something. Oh stars, what to do…”  
She could hear the troop calling for her, and also hearing the ambushers quiet down.   
“This is going to be a slaughter in anycase…” Labradorite whispered to herself.  
“AMBUSH!!” she screamed, jumping up and running to her troop, who also raced to her call. She could hear a couple of the rebel gems curse, startled by her sudden appearance, but couldn’t care as she reached her allies.  
“Good job, Squirt.” a tall green and pinkish gem greeted.   
“Tourmaline, thank the stars. I was wondering what to do and then suddenly there were rebels and just oh gosh what do we---” But the battle was on before the small gem could finish her sentence, and chaos swept the canyon side.  
Cowering, Labradorite summoned some magic hands, trying to help in whatever ways she could. A call was heard from an amethyst from somewhere, though Labradorite couldn’t figure out which side.  
“Don’t kill ‘em! Boss says to bring ‘em back alive!”  
Labradorite, being extremely obedient to very loud gems, and because she thought she heard something like that earlier from Morganite, started bubbling any gem she came across. Her unnaturally fast bubbling skills placed her at the front of the battle, though the battle itself didn’t last long. All the rebel gems were bubbled, though shards from both sides layed about, scattered in the confusion.  
“Good job, squirt.” Tourmaline praised before turning to address the group. It was only a few amethysts, a jasper, and Labradorite and Tourmaline themselves left. Jasper, who was quite small compared to her brethren, tried to pick up fellow jasper, who was now shattered beyond repair.  
“Leave them.” Tourmaline growled out, “We don’t know how many of those rebels are left in the area.” Labradorite looked at the jasper's grief stricken face, sympathetic, but they all marched back to the base, tired and scared.  
How was Morganite going to treat these now prisoners? They were going to be tortured and shattered, but so would she. Shivering, Labradorite continued along the path of the canyon, albeit slower. Tourmaline noticed, and fell back to walk with the gnome-esque gem.   
“You alright, squirt?” The rough, thigh concerned gem asked.  
“Yeah..” labradorite said with a shaky sigh, “ Just… worried? Morganite expected a general. Not.. not pebbles. I d-don’t know w-what she’ll do to me.” Now the gem was visibly shaking, and Tourmaline sighed, looking at but without seeing Labradorite. “I don’t know, squirt, I can’t tell you what might happen.” the rest of the walked was lapsed in awkward silence.  
\---------------------------------------------------  
Keshi Reformed expecting the warm sun of the earth and either sand or grass beneath her feet. Her still muddled mind nearly launched her into a full-blown panic attack when she opened her eyes to see a cramped jail cell.  
Oh stars- Oh stars- No. No no no. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. She quickly got up, almost losing her balance, and rushed over to the sturdy criss-crossed mesh of the front of the cell. As her head cleared, she started to think and panic a small bit. She had to find Spessartite. Oh stars, she had to find the rest of the squad, she had seen that labradorite bubble three of her friends before she was poofed by a small Jasper, but she wasn’t exactly given time to identify who they were.  
How many were shattered? What if Spessartite was one of them?  
No. She wasn’t going to let her mind go there yet, there was no time for that. While examining the other cells around her and trying to see who was there through the mesh, she spotted the guard of this group of cells, a tall Tourmaline. Tourmaline was a large figure. Two pink eyes were looking staring at Keshi, analytical. Her olive skin was visible at her neck and on her uncovered hands and face. She had on a beige scarf and redish-pink pantsuit and beige boots. The pink/green belt Tourmaline wore was covering her rectangle gem.  
“Well hey there friend, would you mind telling me where I am?” Keshi called out, her voice positively dripping with venom at the use of ‘friend’ to describe her keeper.  
“Hehe… a pearl with sass. Now that’s somethin’ ya don’t very often. You’re in prison, awaitin’ death. Get comfy.” the Tourmaline said, with little inflection on their voice, lazing at her desk, which was cluttered with paperwork. Keshi scowled, and began to pace at the back of her cell, out of view of the Tourmaline.  
“Well isn’t this fantastic!” she burst out suddenly, and with an almost laugh, continued, “Who exactly should I be pretending to be afraid of when they come in?” she walked back over to the front of her cell, and shifted her stance to show a mix of obedience and fear, though her eyes distinctly showed a fiery rage “I wouldn’t want to shatter anyone else’s fragile views of my kind would I? I’m sure homeworld can't afford to have their soldiers growing a heart, Ha! I’m just a pearl after all, not even a good one.” she finished, glancing at her arm to her misshapen gem.  
Tourmaline laughed bitterly as well, though Keshi heard a distant ring of sadness to it. “Trust me, kiddo-” “I’m not a kid.” Keshi interrupted, heatedly. “If I had a heart,” the guard continued, “It would have broken long ago. Ain’t no room in this business for heart, or love…” she trailed off, incredibly quiet at the end.  
Keshi rolled her eyes, “Ah, yes, of course! I’m so sorry you’ve had to suffer so much in this ‘business’ of yours, I’m sure it can compare in no way to what we do, and I'm sure there was never a time where you could have shown sympathy, or given anyone a chance to get away and easily come up with an excuse. I’m sure there is nothing we do that is in any way similar to what you do, but with a heart, like sparing the lives of those poofed in battle, or if shattering is required, never employing any form of torture to get information before always giving them a quick and at least relatively painless death,” she resumed her pacing and laughed bitterly, not caring about lashing out in her rage, “Poor you.”   
Tourmaline flinched, and fell silent. They didn’t speak for an hour after that.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------  
Labradorite raced down the hall.   
“OH stars, oh diamonds, oh holy entity above what HAVE I done…”  
She ran to the cell block, and started thinking of an escape plan. They, Morganite, was going to find her, going to kill her. Those gems she bubbled, she could still save them, right? Labradorite could still do the right thing?  
Nearing the cells, Labradorite thought about Tourmaline. Oh no, what would Tourmaline do to her when she discovers this… this treachery?!   
Too late, the doors to the cell bay opened, and Tourmaline was staring at the panicking gem.  
“Heya, squirt. What’s shaking? Ya know, aside from you.”   
Labradorite ran to her friend. “Run away with me.” Cue a gigantic pink and green blush from Tourmaline. While the much taller gem was stuttering a response, Labradorite quickly released the prisoners. A Keshi Pearl quickly sprinted out of the room, and Labradorite gathered the remaining bubbled gems. “What are you doing with my friends?” the pearl shouted.  
“Shut up, shut UP!” Labradorite yelled back. “We have to get out of here, and quick---”  
“LABRADORITE!!!” a voice boomed, shaking the entire base. “Oh stars…” said gem quivered in fear, Morganite had found the poofed gems in the hallway. Tourmaline quickly grabbed Labradorites hand, and started out the doorway, her mind made.  
“Hey!” a disgruntled, though shaken Keshi Pearl shouted, racing after them, “Hold up a minute!”  
“No time, kiddo.” tourmaline said, and Labradorite could only sprint, babbling nonsense along the way.  
“Pod- escape- can’t- must run-” they reached the vehicle dock. Tourmaline quickly powered up a large, bright pink aircraft. “You know how to fly these, squirt?” labradorite shook her head, too scared to trust her voice.  
“Well, looks like we’re both gonna learn.” Tourmaline quipped out. The Keshi pearl, who was quite peeved, dashed aboard the now recognisable, general’s spaceship.   
“Get us out of here,” she fired, “Now.”The machine powered up, but amethysts and other quartz were already in the room, and started firing their weapons, which were guns, bows, and various throwing spears.  
Labradorite clutched one of the two pilot wheels, and started forward. “Whoa, squirt, take it easy.” Tourmaline said gently. The lanky pearl screeched. “Easy?! I don’t know if you noticed, but we are all about to die.”  
Labradorite flinched at the thought of death, quickly shaking the thoughts of her murdered comrades out of her head. Instead, she summoned many magical hands, and started poofing the gems on the outside of the airplane, and pushed the airplane faster with more magic. Now, Labradorites don’t have a lot of stamina, and this was very apparent when she passed out on the steering wheel. They were moving forward at a fast pace, and completely ran through the metal door of the vehicle bay.  
“How did she even pass out?” Labradorite heard, before sinking into the inky blackness of the true magician’s mind.  
\-------------------------------------  
The ride was quiet, until she remembered the other gems needed to reform. Tourmaline groaned mentally, as she expected the other gems were going to be quite hostile towards the one who poofed most of them.  
“Hey…” the Keshi pearl broke the silence first, “Could I see what gems you still have? I just.. I have to check for someone.” Her demeanor had almost completely changed from the last time they had properly interacted, back in the prison. She sounded hesitant, almost. Bright defiance was still shining in her eyes and her stance was tall, but she could tell that something was wavering beneath the surface. Most of the malice was gone from her voice, and she just seemed… tired. Tourmaline understood what she must have been going through.  
The bubbles in question were nowhere to be seen. Keshi had panicked at first, because she didn’t know what had happened to them, but Tourmaline gently explained how Labradorite unconsciously stored them in her gem, as most Labradorites do.   
“Sure, kiddo. But you have to try gettin’ Lab up. It’s her bubbles, after all.” Tourmaline gave a soft chuckle after that sentence, because Labradorite was near impossible to wake up after passing out from magic overuse. The small Keshi nodded.  
“Alright, that's fair enough,” she paused, “Wait, what did she even pass out from? Did she get too nervous or something?” she asked, tipping her head slightly.   
“Nah. Well, maybe. She probably just over-exerted herself, ya know? Too much magic tryin’ to force its way out. Little gem can’t handle the pressure. ‘S why they make ‘em so small.” Tourmaline explained, trying to be helpful.  
“Ohhhhh, okay, yeah, I'm just going to try my luck waiting then, we had a Labradorite back at our camp for a while at one point, and when she was out, she was out.” The Keshi said, appearing to settle down to wait.

After another hour of traveling through dry desert, Labradorite woke up. Groggily at first, but quickly straightening up after she remembered all that transpired. “Whoa, squirt. Take it easy.” Tourmaline calmed the small gem. “I feel like you said that before.” was the response.  
Once conversation ended between the two, Keshi spoke up and asked about the location of the bubbled gems directly.  
“Oh, right.” Labradorite said quietly. No wonder it felt like there was a war going on in Labradorite’s head. The gems inside wanted out. Quickly summoning the bubbles, Labradorite slumped in her chair, holding her aching head.   
“Woah, you okay there? Don't hurt yourself,” Keshi said with wary concern, making Labradorite stare at her. Keshi thought it was kind of creepy, having a gem with no eye stare at her.   
“Didn’t know a rebel gem could be so kind…” Labradorite trailed off, while Tourmaline nodded from the pilot's seat.  
“W-well, I mean, there is dark matter everywhere you go. Can’t expect everyone to be nice.” the Keshi said, reaching up to scratch the back of her head nervously. All the gems awake took the next few minutes to assess each other.  
\----------------------------------  
Morganite stalked the quiet halls, a low growling noise emitting from her, long hair flowing majestically behind. After making an example of the failed homeworld gems, Morganite had to send orders to get more gems from the Alpha kindergarten. This is not what got her angry, however. She was beyond mad because of a small, insignificant… pebble.   
Labradorite Facet-5F6L had escaped her shattering, poofed Morganite’s personal guard of vicious Topazes, and freed multiple prisoners, escaping on the general’s personal aircraft. Morganite shattered her incompetent guards, and gathered the best trackers her base had.  
A Benitoite, Citrine, Kyanite, Iolite, and Almandine were waiting in the war room. The Almandine stepped forward, saluting. “Well?” Morganite said venomously. “We will retrieve the gem, Morganite. We hope that they will lead us straight to the main Rebel encampment.” The Almandine stated. Morganite nodded appreciatively. Her eyes narrowed, and she sneered. “Bring back the Labradorite kicking. I hope she enjoys watching more of her little friends being shattered before her own eye.” she laughed sinisterly.   
“Get going.” She barked when the gems didn’t move. They scrambled out of her vision, leaving her with the shipment orders and a very present headache.  
\-------------------------------------------  
Kyanite stepped into a separate ship than the others, a personal request she’d made to them.   
“I have a way of working. I need it to be quiet for it to work, though,” she'd said, standing alone against the other three.  
“Wait, Kyanite. You can enhance gem abilities, right?” Almandine had asked, frowning. After a brief nod from Kyanite, they continued. “Then go in the same ship as us. We might need the support.”  
“I'd rather not.” Kyanite said firmly. “Besides. If you need me, there's little to no chance I'll stray far enough away to not be able to get to you in time. I promise to keep my comms system on, to hear if you ever need me.”  
After a brief silence, Almandine nodded reluctantly, pointing Kyanite to a different ship. “Comms on.”   
“Yes, of course.”   
Launching the ship out of the hangar, she flipped the comms unit on, starting in the direction the rebel gems had gone in. After a moment, she closed her eyes, tuning into any voices she could hear. A fuzzy voice, staticky at first, slowly becoming more clear.   
“...a rebel gem could be so kind...” a voice, quiet, subdued. Another voice, still a little cloudy. Kyanite focused more, listening in on the conversation. A Keshi Pearl, Tourmaline, and the Labradorite that Morganite was so bent on capturing. Their voices were clearer, a sign she was getting close. Suddenly, a voice came over the comms, cutting off the conversation she was eavesdropping on.  
“Kyanite. Report in.” Almandine commanded, voice tinny over the earpiece.   
Kyanite sighed, upset at being interrupted. “I was on their trail,” she said quietly, tuning down the volume in the earpiece. “Got interrupted by you. It’s fine, though,” she tacked on hastily. “I’m close to them. I’ll contact you when I have them in sight.”  
“Got it. Keep going.” the signal shut off, and Kyanite whuffled silently, closing her eyes and refocusing on the now-familiar voices. She reasoned she was close enough by now, and pressed a hand to the dashboard, the other to the gemstone on her hip. Transmitting magic to it, the three voices erupted from the speaker on the board, echoed in her inner ear. Shutting off her ability, she kept flying through what appeared to be a desert- a little pang, she hadn’t been in a desert for such a long time, and she couldn’t even take a break to enjoy the heat, since she was on a mission. Caught up in her thoughts about the desert heat, she didn’t notice the hushed voices discussing until it was too late, and suddenly her ship was tumbling down into the sand. It poofed up around her, getting into her eyes and mouth. She coughed and sputtered- that was one bit about the desert she hated. Spitting out the last grains of sand, she watched the other ship land- rookie mistake, really. They should have just left. A hand made of magic erupted from the ground, wrapping itself around her. She stayed still. It wouldn’t do good to show any sort of weakness.  
“Who are you?” A harsh voice, one she recognized as the Tourmaline’s.  
She hesitated for a bit, then spoke. It wouldn’t make any difference whether or not they knew her name. “Kyanite. I’m on orders to take Labradorite, Facet 5F6L, back to Morganite.” she said.  
“Good luck with that,” the Keshi pearl huffed. “Lab?” The Labradorite nodded, and turned her gem-eye onto Kyanite.  
“W-we won’t shatter you. We just n-need you off our trail.” The hand around her tightened its grip exponentially, raising the risk of them poofing her and running off without a trace. By the time she reformed, they’d be too far away for her to even try tuning in on their voices. So she shuffled around and summoned her weapon in its first phase, listening to the three whisper.  
“A *baton*? Is that really your weapon? Well, it’s not gonna do much. Lab, poof her.” Tourmaline said.  
“Not a baton,” Kyanite muttered, allowing a small smile to slide onto her lips. “Bo staff.” With that, she extended the staff’s points, making the hand’s grip loosen. She planted one end of the staff on the hand’s palm, launching herself out onto the sand with a soft cloud of dust. The hand retreated into the ground, and she faced the three rebels.  
“I’m with orders to take Labradorite Facet 5F6L to Morganite,” she repeated. “I suggest you all come peacefully.”  
Labradorite shook where she stood in the burning sand.  
“I- I can’t go back, you don’t understand!” Labradorite begged.  
The Kyanite sighed mournfully, shaking her head. “Don’t worry. Morganite won’t shatter you. If you just explai-”  
“You don’t know her like I DO!” Labradorite exploded, bursts of magic passing over both friend and foe, sending all tumbling in the sand.  
Kyanite spit out sand for a second time; Keshi just didn’t get up. Tourmaline rose shakily, staring at Labradorite.  
Labradorite was shaking, hyperventilating. Her gem was shining more than usual, and she felt like exploding.  
“Morganite won’t poof me. She’ll torture me so much that- that I’ll *want* to die. She’ll shatter me slowly but- but she’ll keep me alive just to do it- to do it all over again.”  
Kyanite looked horrified at the end of her rant, eyes wide in shock.  
“That- that can’t be true,” she muttered, hand grasping at her shirt strap in an effort to keep herself grounded.  
“Are you sure about that?” Tourmaline said softly.  
“Morganite would shatter us all, no doubt. And, well, I don't know about you, but I don't feel like dying.” Keshi joined, now up and standing away from Labradorite in case she exploded again.  
Labradorite thought for a second, breathing deeply. “Y-you want p-peace, right? I th-think you do.” Kyanite was standing now, and nodded at the tiny gem’s words.  
“Yeah. Yeah, I want peace. Who wouldn’t?” Kyanite buried her face in her hands, muttering quietly to herself, words inaudible.  
Keshi scoffed, though her eyes held hope. “This war won’t end until we end it, you know.” Labradorite nodded solemnly.  
“Well...” Labradorite turned to look at the speaking Tourmaline, who looked a little hesitant. “We could always use more friends. You could join us.”  
Kyanite opened her mouth, then closed it a second after. Her inner turmoil was written clearly on her face, conflicting emotions flitting through her eyes.  
On one hand, she was working under Morganite, and allying herself with these gems would surely be considered treason, and no amount of reasoning she attempted would do anything against Morganite’s fiery temper, no matter how good of a mediator she was. On the other hand, this was the first she was hearing of what Morganite did to any people she disliked- of course there had been many others, many other tortured gems that she’d never heard of, that she’d been oblivious to. Great holy heavens, how had she missed all of that in her time at the base? What other things had she missed?  
A crackle of static in her earpiece communication unit, making her yelp. Shaking her hand rapidly at the three gems looking at her to signal to stay silent, she switched on the comms.  
“Kyanite! Where are you? Have you found the rebels?” Almandine’s voice shouted in her ear.  
Kyanite waited a bit, then responded, attempting to make her voice sound as much like the calm, collected tone she used around leaders, trying not to let her voice shake. “No, sorry. I- I lost them, too much interference. I ran across another ship, and they were too loud, I lost the conversation I was following, and by the time I was in a quiet place again, they were too far away. I’ll keep looking for them.” During her hastily crafted lie, her gem began glowing, and her skin shifted a few shades darker. She was lucky she wasn’t face-to-face with Almandine, or she would be caught within seconds.  
“Good. Don’t make another mistake like that.”  
“Understood.” The static shut off, and Kyanite looked at the three gems. Taking out her comms unit, she knelt down and buried it under a mound of sand, compacting it with her boot. She tucked a lock of flyaway hair behind her ear; rested her arm on the bo staff propped upright in the sand.  
“Looks like I’ve made my choice,” she sighed. “Where to next?  
Keshi perked up at this question. “We need to head to the second main rebel base.”   
Labradorite tilted her head slightly, confused. “You mean there’s more than one?”   
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Tourmaline shrugged, indifferent to the information presented.  
“The point is, we have to head to the second one.” Keshi pressed. “Because if this Kyanite was sent after us, Morganite probably expected us to head to the main one. So, we don’t.” Keshi seemed to answer unasked questions, because Labradorite nodded in understanding.   
“We should probably get going.” Kyanite said, “The others weren’t that far from me.” Tourmaline agreed, and everyone started heading to the ship.   
Labradorite quietly studied Kyanite, looking at her light blue skin and waist-long hair so blue, it almost looked black. She walked lightly, every step abouncing off the sand so quickly she made little to no tracks, her pale ruffled skirt blowing in the desert wind, blue shirt ending just above her waist, showing off her brilliant blue gem shining in the desert sun. She looked serene, happy even, to be in the desert, a small smile on her face, basking in the heat. She looked… friendly.   
\-----------------------------------------------------  
As soon as Tourmaline opened the door, an orange blur tackled her to the ground, yelling wildly. Labradorite, acting quickly, summoned a pair of hands. Grappling against the unknown assailant, she tried to hold the figure still. Keshi gasped in realization of who it was. “Spess! Spess calm down,” she said, as she rushed between the two fighters and held her hands up at both of them,   
“Calm down, please. Give them a moment to explain themselves, and I'll catch you up on what's going on, I promise.” Spessartite calmed a bit at the sight of the small Keshi, and although she was still glaring at the unknown gems, she stopped struggling in the grip of the magic hands.  
“Make her let go of me, then.” Spessartite said to her friend, and Keshi looked towards Labradorite, who nodded. Releasing the magic, Spessartite fell to the sand below, weapon vanishing. Tourmaline got up from the ground slowly, complaining about how many times she had to, while Kyanite softly chuckled.   
“We’ll explain on the ship,” Kyanite said to the group, “But right now I think someone is heading our way. Labradorite was first through the door, skidding almost comically inside. Tourmaline followed, sitting in the pilot’s seat. Kyanite followed, giving one last glance towards Morganite’s formerly-pristine ship smoking in the sand.   
Spessartite lagged behind, holding Keshi Pearl with her. “Are you sure we can trust them, Keshi?” Spess said in a hushed whisper. “They poofed us, killed our comrades, and you want to stay with them?”   
“Look, I'm not exactly pleased with what they've done either, but as far as I know, the only thing either of them did was poof people. They've even managed to accept that I am the way that I am, I feel like they would be perfect for Rose,” Keshi explained, and quickly added, “Besides, you know how good I am at judging people, and the only vibe I've gotten off of any of them is that they were unhappy with where they were.” She kept her voice low, to keep the others from listening in on the conversation. Spessartite let out an exasperated sigh.  
“Alright… just make sure you're paying attention,” Spessartite said, picking up her pace again to catch the others.  
Aboard, Labradorite sat in the co-pilot’s seat, pulling out two bubbled gems from her own gem. Spessartite was getting angry. How dare this homeworld gem even touch her friends? Keshi sensed her friends anger, Kyanite leaping to attention as well, and both tried to quell the short tempered gems rage.   
“Lab, could you maybe, release our friends?” Keshi said quickly to the oblivious gem. Said gem nodded in understanding, after seeing Spessartite’s anger. The bubbles popped, and Spessartite lunged forward, catching the two gems in her hand.   
Tourmaline glanced at the commotion next to her, before starting up the ship and going forward. “Calm down, guys.” she said lazily. “No need to get this team riled up on fumes.” “What.” Spessartite said, blank-faced. Kyanite giggled in the back, Labradorite following after. Soon, everyone was laughing uproariously except Spessartite. Lab was beginning to think the orange gem had no sense of humor, even if Labradorite was only laughing because she couldn’t believe she was still alive.  
Because, if one thinks about it, Lab could have been shattered by being late, she could have died in the battle in the canyon. She was going to be killed from her failure, and Tourmaline could have been more loyal to homeworld than Lab thought. Kyanite could have killed her, or Morganite would. And Spessartite could (and probably still would) kill her for any reason, the main being from homeworld.  
Labradorite considered herself very lucky in the ‘staying alive’ department of Life.   
Back to the real world, Labradorite studied the gems in Spessartite’s hands, and Spessartite herself. The gems were a chalcedony and an ametrine, and they shone brightly in the sunlight coming in from the large windshield. Spessartite caught her gaze, and scowled. Labradorite was taken aback as Spess stalked to the back of the ship. “She isn’t so trusting, I’m guessing?” Labradorite asked of Keshi.   
“Look, she's just… she's still trying to figure out how to handle all of this. She takes the aftermath of battles really hard and usually ends up blaming it all on herself. If you give her time and prove that you aren't going to hurt anyone she'll probably warm up to you eventually,” Keshi said.  
Tourmaline laughed at that, causing the others to look at her funny. “Sorry, sorry. Just-- the thought of squirt actually tryin’ ta hurt anyone is pretty funny!” she chuckled. Labradorite blushed, a blue shade casted over her red cone hat, and punched Tourmaline lightly on the elbow. “Wait,” Keshi said, confused, “She fought us in the canyon. Wasn’t she hurting us, then?” Spessartite flinched in the very back at the mention of the battle, though no one noticed. “Technically, no. See, squirt was just bubblin’ all of you. And even then she woulda died either way not fightin’.” Tourmaline cleared up. Keshi nodded, satisfied with the answer, and Kyanite offered comfort to Labradorite in the form of a soft hug.   
\---------------------------  
Hours had passed, and Keshi said that they were getting close to the base they needed to be at. They were sailing over open water, the sea making Keshi Pearl happy. She was sure that her matron (the self-proclaimed Mother of Pearls) would appreciate the view. The Chalcedony and Ametrine had yet to reform, and looked like they still might take a while. Spessartite, after a couple hours, had started to warm up to Lab and Tourmaline, talking regularly, though not freely. Kyanite stayed out of the conversation taking place, instead trying to focus on the little noise in the back of her inner ear. She wasn’t sure who it was or what their intentions were, but *something* was going to happen. She could feel it.  
The Ametrine burst with a flash of light, and suddenly there was another gem inside the still spacious, looking around in post-poof daze. Noticing Spessartite and Keshi, she lit up, then drew back in caution as Kyanite and Tourmaline looked at her, curious. She looked pretty, Kyanite noted. Her hair, a shoulder-length bob with two buns on top, was light purple with pale orange streaks. Little star ornaments dangled at the foot of her buns, trailing pink string in little loops. Her eyes were a bright gold, matching her shirt- an orange so light it was almost white, a lavender skirt with an orange strip. Sandals adorned with two more stars sat on her feet, her light pink skin matching the pink in her gem at her neck, shining purple, orange, yellow, and pink.   
“Hey,” Kyanite said offhandedly. She was still hearing those voices. “Welcome to the club.”   
“Who are you? Spess? Keshi? Can anyone explain to me what’s going on? Are those gems the ones that poofed us?” Ametrine asked, fingertips pressed against her forehead.  
“Trys!” Keshi called brightly, launching herself at Ametrine, who caught her, still looking very confused. “Long story short, we’ve got new rebels now. That’s Labradorite, with no eyes, Tourmaline, the big one, and Kyanite, the blue one. They’re fine, none of them are inherently bad. How are you doing?” Keshi babbled, still grinning wildly, happy to have another friend back. In spite of her bewilderment, Ametrine cracked a smile at Keshi’s excitement.   
“Well, I’m doing… okay, given this situation. I’m sure I’ll get the full story later.”  
“‘Trys’?” Labradorite asked, voice laced with confusion. “A-aren’t you an ametrine?”  
“Yes, I am an Ametrine,” the gem in question responded, a hint of laughter in her tone. “I also go by the name Trystine, since we’ve got a few other ametrines at camp. Both are the correct name, though if you want, Bolivianite works too.”  
Tourmaline nodded, lazily and rather annoyed at the new addition. Keep in mind, Tourmaline didn’t resent the new gem, but this was getting to be a rather large group, and they didn’t need--  
She was cut off from her thoughts as the other gem started to reform. “Oh great…” Tourmaline groaned, exasperated. The chalcedony glowed a bright white, and a large body sprouted from it. A wild floof of white hair bounced around as the new companion searched the environment for hostiles. Slowly, she turned to look at the crowd around her.   
A Labradorite, Tourmaline, and Kyanite looked shocked whilst the other gems, whom Chalcedony recognised as her friends, smiled warmly at her entrance. “I have a lot of questions right about now.” she said, bewildered.   
“Trust me, I feel the same now.” Ametrine said, laughing.   
“A new friend makes an appearance.” Lab called from the front, and Keshi and Spess went in to welcome the new arrival.  
Chalcedony, Lab noted, looked sort of like a cloud. Fluffy hair and clothes only added to that thought. She wore a white sweater with blueish gray stripes at the ends of the garments, and her pants were sort of like Keshi’s, looking like a skirt whilst also being pants. Chalcedony had a very round body type, and circular facial features, which helped contribute to the cloud comparison. Her gem was above her gray eyes, and plump lips broke out into a smile, as her friends greeted her and ametrine equally.  
“Well,” Tourmaline interrupted the happy group. “How close are we to arrive to the base?”   
“We are probably only about an hour away.” Keshi said, getting comfy in one of the seats in the back. Kyanite still heard the little voice in her head. It was getting louder, but she was still no closer to deciphering the message it seemed desperate to communicate.   
Chalcedony and Ametrine were talking with Keshi about all that had transpired, with Lab inputting information here and there. The smallest gem had long since stopped her stutter, and seemed she was really enjoying the others company. Spess was the only one who noticed Tourmaline’s occasional side-glares of jealousy.   
It was going smoothly, allowing everyone to let their guards down, to get comfortable. A scream startled everyone, and they turned to look at Kyanite, who was out of her seat, eyes wide and paranoid.   
“SPEED UP! DON'T STOP THE SHIP-”  
Too late, their ship came to a sudden halt, causing the gems inside to jerk forward with the force- all except Kyanite, who had no support to hold on to. She crashed through the windshield, tumbling through and plunging into the sea below.  
“Kyanite!” Lab yelled in alarm, scrambling onto the hood. Tourmaline called Lab’s name, barely audible to the small gem still frantically searching for Kyanite’s magical signature. It was faint to begin with, as it was considered “negative” energy, and that added with the extra distance, there was no sign of her.  
...ab..LAB!” A yell knocked her away from her thoughts and Labradorite took in the situation of chaos around their group.   
Hundreds and hundreds of homeworld ships gathered in the skies, and Keshi had silent tears streaming down her face as a pillar of smoke rose from the direction the rebel base was at base was at.   
“Th-they got there f-first?” Lab said, trembling. They were too late.   
Tourmaline quickly got in front of Lab in a protective stance, the other four summoning their weapons. A ship, much larger than the others, floated down and stopped in front of the escapees’ ship. It was a menacing thing, and the ex-homeworld gems knew who it belonged to.   
“Well, well, well.” Black Opal said, over the speakers. “Looks like we got ourselves some gems trying to join the rebellion. But surely it can’t be that?” she ended, sarcastic.   
“You MURDERER!” Ametrine screamed from inside, distraught. A sick laughter emanated from the enemy craft.   
“You think I care?” the ship started floating up.   
“ Hypernovas!” Tourmaline yelled, pushing everyone to the back of the ship. Tourmaline guessed correctly what was about to happen, as thousands of laser bullets rained down on them, effectively destroying most of the ship. A piece of molten metal fell towards the group, and Keshi launched a fan at it, cutting it in half.   
Lab was having a panic attack, and thus was useless in the battle. Spess growled and ran to the ladder leading to the roof. Tourmaline followed, shouting a “Stay with Lab!’ at Chalcedony, who nodded. Ametrine ran to the front of the ship, trying to figure out if the thing still worked. Keshi jumped out onto the hood, summoning and throwing many of her weapons, knocking out a few ships.   
“What’s your plan?!” Tourmaline yelled to Spess as they stood on the roof. “We need to get rid of Opal’s ship!” was the response. “These are drone ships! Only Black Opal controls them!” Tourmaline nodded, and jumped onto the nearest drone, smashing her green battle ax into its circuits, effectively gaining control of it.   
She guided towards Black Opal’s ship, dodging the other ships and fans being launched. Spessartite caught the wind of this plan, also launching herself at a drone ship, following Tourmalines path.   
Ametrine had gotten the ship to turn on, but the screen was glitchy and cracked everywhere. She gathered what little energy there was and directed it to the guns, firing hellfire upon the drones.   
“Ametrine! We gotta go get Kyanite- I don’t think she’ll last in the ocean for long!” Ametrine nodded grimly, steering the ship closer to the water’s choppy surface, estimating where Kyanite had fallen. She summoned her weapon, extending the chain for as long as she knew it went. Tossing the star-shaped blade into the sea, she prayed Kyanite would notice it.   
A weak tug. Lighting up with relief, Ametrine pulled the blade in, watching as the knobbed end of a staff rose with it, a pale blue hand gripping the staff tightly.   
“Chalcedony! I need your help pulling her up!” Said gem rushed to the front of the ship, pulling on Ametrine’s chain. Soon, Kyanite’s long, wet dark hair emerged, the rest of her being dragged onto the ship.   
“K-kyanite?” Lab called faintly from the back. “Is she- is she okay?”  
Ametrine rested her head on Kyanite’s chest, listening. A light pulse, almost too light to be heard.  
“She’s alive,” Ametrine said. “Just barely. I’ll do what I can.” She touched her hands together, a soft yellow glow lighting up each of her palms. She pressed one against Kyanite’s gem, the other lightly on her forehead. Concentrating, she felt for anything in the body that didn’t belong, and focused on driving it out. Kyanite shuddered, then coughed once, twice, soon turning into a fit, releasing the seawater from her lungs.   
“It’s a damn good thing we both can heal others.” Chalcedony said with a sigh of relief. Labradorite, now mostly over her episode, climbed up the ladder, and watched the two gems in the sky destroy many ships. But it wasn’t enough. There was simply too many ships to get, and Tourmaline and Spessartite were getting overwhelmed.   
“Kyanite!” Lab yelled on the roof, said gem scrambling up onto the roof as quickly as she could. Ametrine, Keshi, and Chalcedony followed, the both focusing on trying to buff their friends. “Kyanite, I need you to amp up my power.” Labradorite said. “Please.”  
Kyanite looked taken aback, then set her gaze firmly on Labraorite’s. “I won’t be able to keep boosting you for long,” she warned.  
“That’s fine. I just need it for a little bit.” Nodding, Kyanite outstretched her hand, letting it glow with magic. A sigil appeared, marking the foreheads of all her allies, boosting their power levels.  
Labradorite felt the increase, and in spite of the situation, smiled widely. She summoned an incredible multitude of magical hands, quickly going to dispatch the drones firing upon them. Keshi helped as much as she could, but she was still tired from throwing her fans for such a long time.  
Chalcedony started using her power on Keshi and Labradorite, her gem glowing white as well as her eyes. Even with all the group’s powers being used, it seemed that the drones had no end. Tourmaline and Spess were making little to no progress on getting to Black Opal’s ship.   
“You don’t have much time left!” Kyanite called to Labradorite. She was still feeling fatigued from the swim she’d taken earlier, and with the boost not being applied to her, her power wasn’t going to last much longer. The gem she was talking to nodded solemnly, already feeling her own power waning.  
Suddenly, Chalcedony screamed. A drone got in a lucky shot, hitting Chalcedony and poofing her immediately.  
“Chal!” Ametrine shrieked, lunging after the gem tilting precariously on the edge of the roof. With the two out, Labradorite’s power dropped immensely. “Quasars!” she cursed, her power gone. Kyanite kept up her ability as much as possible, but soon collapsed to the floor, her sigils disappearing. Keshi was the only one left, but her fans were getting slower and less numerous.   
Spessartite, thanks to the gems eliminating the ships, finally had an opening and launched herself at Black Opal’s ship, in a desperate final attack. But things didn’t go as planned, and a falling drone collided with Spess’ ride. She screamed as her drone careened out of control, making Spess crash into the water with an explosion. “SPESS!” Keshi screamed, voice cracking. The drone that crashed into Spessartite hit another drone, which was going to collide with the the ship by the water.   
“Labradorite!” Tourmaline yelled, quickly going after, trying to stop the drone from destroying the one thing she cared about. A bright light engulfed the two as the made contact, blinding Keshi and Kyanite.The crashing drone collided with their ship, rocking the structure. Kyanite and Keshi covered themselves the best they could, protecting any exposed skin.  
But they weren’t hit by any molten metal, or thrown off by the explosion. In fact, the battle had gone suffocatingly silent. Keshi was the one to look up first.   
“By the stars…” she whispered, awed by the gem in front of her.   
This gem stood taller than most Keshi had ever saw, and her cloak swept in the wind almost majestically. Making up so many colors, it looked as if the light spectrum was jammed into this one being. Spiky hair stood straight, and a large cowboy hat rested on a smirking face, as the gem held up two hands to view itself.   
“This is… new.” the multicolored gem said, testing out its new voice.   
“You freaks!” Black opal yelled from her vehicle. “YOU can’t win, and resort to THIS disgusting tactic?!”  
“Now, now, darlin’,” the gem strutted forward. “That ain’t very nice.” Kyanite was staring up at the gem, hope clearly shining in her eyes.  
“Lab? Tourmaline?” she asked. The gem in front of her looked at the smaller one, and nodded. They were fully grinning now, and actually started laughing. “I think it’s Ammolite now, darlin’.”   
“You filthy barbarians!” Black Opal ground out, “Die, DIE!” and with those words, the seventy some drones started firing on the rebels once more. Ammolite didn’t even flinch, however, and just lifted one hand. Out of nowhere, a gargantuan magic hand was summoned, stopping all the the projectiles.   
“I’m on fire now, ya bastard!” Ammolite yelled, summoning dozens of these magic helpers. She also brought out battle ax after giant battle ax, making quick work of the drones.   
Soon, after the smoke had cleared, only Black Opal’s ship was left in the air. Ammolite dispersed the magic in the air, instead focusing of summoning the biggest battle ax she could from her glowing rainbow gem. Opal turned her ship around, not wanting to wait for her death. “On no, ya don’t”  
A fully formed ax was in Ammolite’s hands, but Black Opal was seemingly out of range. “Kyanite, boost me!” Ammolite yelled. Kyanite sat up determinedly, gathering every last bit of magic left in her, and the sigil appeared once more.   
Ammolite threw the ax as far as she could with the aid of the boost. “Bullseye!” she yelled in victory, as Black Opal’s ship exploded in the distance, hopefully taking out the evil homeworld gem with it.   
“Yeah!” the others cheered, and Ammolite defused, turning back into Labradorite and Tourmaline, who quickly hugged.  
While the others cheered, Keshi went to the edge of the battered ship, scanning the murky waters below. “Spessartite…” she called, making the others quiet down, “Spess?” she turned back to the rest of the group, determination in her eyes and asked, “Does anyone have enough magic left to summon a weapon that can pull her up?”  
“...Ametrine would. She pulled me up, anyway. But… I haven’t seen her since she went after Chalcedony. I- give me a second,” Kyanite muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. Her eyes went glassy for a few moments, then cleared back up. She pointed to a spot in the ocean. “That’s where Chalcedony got poofed.”  
“Wait,” Lab called, her voice faint. “Kyanite, do you feel that?”   
“Oh. Yeah. Uh- that?” she replied, looking at the dark ocean warily. Soon, all of the gems were looking overboard, the dark depths ominous.   
Suddenly, a giant watery explosion had them all reeling back. A giant sea leviathan bursted out from the ocean, its green cyan scales glittering brightly as it roared into the air.  
“EXCUSE ME, WHAT IN THE GREAT HOLY HEAVENS IS THAT?’ Kyanite screeched, the others silent with awe, fear, and probably dumbfounded. 

“Wooo!” a new voice yelled.

“Heck yeah!” a familiar one also screamed loudly. 

“Spess?!” Keshi said, staring at the levaiathan’s head. Said creature looked down at the much smaller ship, and the gems could she three figures at the top. One was Spessartite, and the other was ametrine. The gems on the ship yelled with delight. The third gem, a bright blue lanky thing said something to the massive sea monster, and it slowly went lower, its head level to the ship.   
Spessartite raced onboard (a very worried Keshi colliding with her quite quickly), as did ametrine, jumping and hugging their friends. The third gem walked slowly aboard, her silky chiton catching slightly in the wind. “Guys, what happened? Where’s Chal?” Tourmaline asked. “Right here,” the unknown gem said, holding up the white gem.  
“That’s great,” Kyanite said warily, “but who are you?”  
“I’m Altoscianite.” she greeted. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” “What’s that thing you’re riding?” Labradorite piped up.   
“That’s my mom, Dyane.”   
“What.” Tourmaline said, confused.  
“Look, guys, I’m all for twenty questions, but can we do things when we aren’t sinking?” Spessartite said, pointing to the obviously sinking ship below her feet.   
The others nodded, and Altoscianite invited them to ride Dyane’s head. They agreed, not keen of swimming. “Can you get to the column of smoke in the distance?” Keshi asked, a little desperate, “I think-- no, I know our friends are in danger.”   
“Alright, you got it.” they started heading to the base.  
They were worried about what was to come.


End file.
